Our Latest Posts About: Fraud

Why does Google allow FAKE download ads?

One of the biggest scams on the Internet is Fake Download Ads, but you never hear anything about it. A "Fake" download ad is the kind of ad that tricks you into downloading a program you weren't looking for, because its placed on the download page for something you were looking for.

For example, if you go to a legitimate site to download a popular open source program like Open Office, or Audacity, more often than not, the "ads" Google runs on those pages are for entirely different programs, and they have oversized "Download" links in them that confuse many visitors into thinking they are the legitimate download buttons they should be clicking to download whatever it was they were looking for.

Beware... Fake fundraising emails are on the rise!

Over the last few months, I've noticed a rise in the number of fake fundraising emails. Most of them were election related, but the fact remains, there are now spammers making money off of unsuspecting people who THINK they're supporting a worthy cause.

It's harder for people to realize they've been taken advantage of, because unlike buying something from a spammer, when you make a donation you don't expect to receive a product in the mail.

This is particularly disturbing because it means that people are not only sending money to criminals, but they are also depriving legitimate charities of their donations.

I received so many fraudulent emails from both sides during the election I lost count. I even received so... [More]

Now that it's virtually free to make calls from around the world, there are more phone scammers than ever before.

Yesterday, I talked a bit about "ScareWare", the fake messages you see on your computer screen warning you that you have a computer problem such as a virus. As a followup, I'd like to draw attention to a similar problem, that doesn't involve your computer, but it can be just as dangerous, phone scammers.

Unlike telemarketers, who are just pests trying to make a sale, today's phone scammers are truly evil people trying to steal as much from you as they can, because they know they will never get caught.

While there are literally hundreds of scams out there, the three most common are:

1. Fake IRS or Law Enforcement Agent.

The web is full of sleaze. Google is no exception.

I hate when I see fraud on the Internet, especially when it comes from trusted sources. At least when you see something suspicious on an obscure site, you think twice before clicking, but I've noticed a growing trend of "Fake Links" and "Fake Download" buttons on some very well known sites, and worst thing is that it's Google's fault for allowing it.

Case in point, I often recommend Open Office to clients who need to create occasional documents and spreadsheets. It's a popular Open Source alternative to Microsoft Office. As soon as you click the download link, it takes you to a page on another well known site that hosts Open Source projects.

The trouble is, the download page has a tiny sentence that says the download w... [More]

Just about every email system has a button to report Spam... but you never see buttons to report fraud, which is much worse.

I realize everyone hates Spam, but online fraud is a much bigger problem. Spam is basically a nuisance, but the damages from online fraud can be catastrophic. Every day, scammers send millions of fraudulent emails in the hopes of tricking people into giving them money or personal information, so why don't they make it easier for people to report fraud?

Reporting Spam couldn't be easier, because there's generally a simple button right above the message, but the option to report fraud requires people to look around for a link in a menu. Most people don't even know it's there.

If more people reported fraudulent emails, email providers could not only b... [More]

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